Pepper soup. Strong. With fish. She opened her eyes. Her stomach clenched with hunger. The light bulb was still shining brightly and Sugar Cream was glowing like Jesus Christ. The fact that she was wearing a long cream-coloured dress and matching cream-coloured veil added to the effect. Sunny’s mouth and throat were so parched she couldn’t speak. She was lying curled up on the sandy marble floor, her hoodie over her head, her sleeves pulled over her hands.
“Can you sit up?” Sugar Cream softly asked. She’d placed the tray of pepper soup and a large bottle of water beside Sunny.
She nodded, allowing Sugar Cream to help her sit up. She scooted to Sugar Cream’s desk, leaned against it, and gave her mentor a hard look. Her arm ached and itched, but she was alive. But she’d almost been killed.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Sugar Cream snapped. “You suffer the consequences of your actions. Let that be your greatest lesson here. You make your bed, so you shall lie on it.”
“It tried to kill me,” Sunny whispered.
Sugar Cream stiffened for a moment, meeting Sunny’s eyes. Then she picked up the bottle of water and handed it to Sunny. “Drink.”
Cool, soothing, goodness. Water is life; water is life; water is life, she thought. She drank and drank, pulling in as much as she could. She finished more than half of the large bottle before bringing it down and sighing. “It bit me,” she said.
“And what did you do about it?” Sugar Cream asked, handing her the bowl of soup. It was warm in her hands. A tainted pepper floated in the middle of the clear brown soup with large chunks of seasoned fish, tripe, and shrimp. It caused the soup to softly bubble. Sugar Cream handed Sunny a spoon, and she took it.
“I got the help of friends,” she coldly said.
Sugar Cream grunted and smiled. “Ogwu and her children,” she said. “Is that why the bulb burns as a portal?”
Sunny shrugged as she spooned the soup into her mouth. Her belly warmed and the rest of her body followed. For once it was good to eat hot, hot, hot tainted pepper soup. When she finished, Sugar Cream helped her up, inspected the bite on Sunny’s arm, and then, after deeming it not serious, helped Sunny up the many flights of stairs. Sunny’s punishment was complete.
The walk up and through the library was like a dream. She’d come to know the first three floors of this place well over the last year. But now, though she recognised everything, it felt slightly unfamiliar. There was a strange distancing effect, as if she hadn’t been here in five years as opposed to three days. She’d changed down there. And she was exhausted.
By the time they reached ground level and stepped into the lobby, Sunny felt stronger. She no longer had to lean on Sugar Cream and her headache was gone. The bite was itchy, but she could at least move her arm. Sugar Cream said it was past midnight, yet there were several older students browsing the bookcases here as if all was normal. They glanced at Sunny and some of them smiled at her, patted her on the shoulder, and said “You look good” and “Handled like a soldier.”
Samya slowly came up to her, and Sunny hugged her tightly. She felt Samya cringe, and she quickly let go. “I’m sorry,” Sunny said, looking into Samya’s brown eyes.
Samya smiled tiredly. “Don’t be.” She hugged Sunny again and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad you are okay.”
“They really caned you?” Sunny asked, her eyes tearing up.
“Don’t cry. You walk out of here with dry eyes, okay? I’m fine. As you know, some punishments are worth it.” Sunny nodded, working hard to fight her tears. Samya squeezed her hand. “Go,” she said, gently pushing Sunny along.
“You’ve become a bit of a hero,” Sugar Cream said drily, after they’d moved on towards the door.
If Sunny weren’t so tired, she’d have been deeply confused. How did one come out of three days’ punishment a hero? When she stepped out of the Obi Library, the air felt so sweet.
“Sunny!” Chichi screamed, running up and throwing her arms around her, nearly knocking her to the ground. Orlu and Sasha stood behind her. “They told us to wait out here. That you had to complete your punishment by walking unaided out of the Obi Library. Unaided!” She held Sunny back and looked her over. “You look terrible!”
“I feel worse,” Sunny said, pressing her arm.
“Chichi…” Sasha paused, an angry look crossing his face, but then he looked at Sunny and smiled. “She told us everything. I’d have done the same thing, no matter the consequences. That’s family, yo. Always gotta protect the fam.”
Sunny only nodded. Not even Sasha would understand the consequences. When he’d used juju to switch the minds of two police officers back in the United States, he’d been caned. She, on the other hand, had nearly lost her soul. But both he and Samya were right; it was worth it.
Her eyes met Orlu’s and again she nearly melted into tears. It was as if he could see right through her, witness all that she’d been through. His hands were at his sides, clenching and unclenching. She stepped up to him and Orlu gathered her into a quiet hug. “It’s all right,” he said. “You’re with us now.”
Sugar Cream went back into the library as soon as Sunny was in the hands of her friends. She said that Sunny was to return for her lessons in a week. The four of them stopped at Mama Put’s Putting Place on the way back when Sunny said that she was hungry.
“Don’t worry,” Orlu said, pulling out a white plastic chair for Sunny. “I’m paying. Order whatever you want.”
Sunny’s pockets were full of the gold chittim that had fallen in the basement, but she didn’t argue with him. She’d been gone three days and all her friends could do was worry. They needed to feel as if they could do something. Especially Orlu.
“It’s late,” Sunny said. “My parents, my brother… maybe it’s best if…”
“Don’t worry about them,” Chichi said. “I’ve been going over there. They know you are at least okay.”
“What?! What have you been telling them?” she asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I can’t. They already know you are part of something. They’re beginning to understand. So all I’ve said is that you’re fine and will be back tonight. The first day, your father looked like he wanted to kill me.” She laughed. “Honestly, Sunny, your father doesn’t know if he is coming or going when it comes to you.”
“Your mother came to see my mother yesterday, too,” Orlu said. “My mother said she looked okay, just worried about the reason you were gone.”
Sunny ordered a plate of stewed chicken. Mama Put said it came with jollof rice, but Sunny asked to replace it with more fried plantain. She didn’t think she wanted to eat jollof rice for a while, or goat meat. She also ordered three bottles of water. When the food came, Sunny’s entire body responded. As she ate and drank and ate and drank, Chichi told her some surprising things.
“I called your brother that next day,” Chichi said. “Remember, you gave me your phone.” She reached into her pocket and handed it to Sunny.
“Thanks,” Sunny said. “What’d he say?”
“Nothing much,” she said.
Sasha sucked his teeth loudly.
“Oh, stop,” Chichi snapped.
Sasha muttered something under his breath, and Orlu’s eyebrows went up.
“What did you say?” Chichi asked, frowning.
“My brother,” Sunny interrupted. “My brother… is he okay?”
“He’s back in school.” Chichi grinned.
“What? Really?!”
“He didn’t believe me at first when I said he could go back. But then later that day, he got a phone call. His friend Adebayo couldn’t stop apologising and telling him that it was safe to return. That the confraternity is disbanded. Chukwu didn’t believe it until one of his other friends who was not in the confraternity and knew nothing about Chukwu’s problem called his cell phone laughing and telling him that two of his professors had left their positions to join some born-again Christian group. When Chukwu returned, he found that the capo of the group had also become born-again, though he didn’t drop out.”
Her brother only missed a few days of school. Her parents never even knew he was gone. The next time he’d be home would be for Christmas, which was weeks away. He’d heal up nicely by then. Sunny looked at her phone. What was she going to tell him when she finally talked to him? She’d cross that bridge once she got to it.
When she returned home, she made it into the kitchen before anyone knew she was there. Her father stood in the doorway in his nightwear. “Sunny,” he said in a low voice. “Where were you?”
Sunny’s heart slammed in her chest and she felt her throat tighten. She couldn’t tell him even if she wanted to. “Dad, I–”
He held up a hand. “Something has always been wrong with you,” he muttered. “What kind of daughter has God given me?”
“I swear, Dad, I’m not…” She froze as it started to happen, her body filling with terror. But she couldn’t help it, no matter how hard she willed. Her spirit face was coming forwards! And as it began to happen, Sunny could feel Anyanwu’s shock, too. She turned from her father.
“Don’t swear,” her father snapped. “Don’t swear a thing to me. What are you… What is wrong with you?”
Sunny was afraid to speak. But as her spirit face retreated, she relaxed. She turned back to her father’s angry face. Two years ago, he’d surely have beaten her when he was this angry… and this scared him. She could see it in his eyes. She was old enough now and had faced enough scary things herself to recognise it. “Are you all right?” he asked in a low voice.
She nodded.
“Did anyone hurt you?”
“I’m okay, Dad,” she said. The djinni bite on her arm itched and ached. Was losing control of her spirit face a side effect?
He touched his forehead and closed his eyes, letting out a breath. He opened them. “Will this happen again, Sunny?”
She pressed her lips together, steadying herself. If her spirit face had slipped forwards, would they have returned her right back to the basement? Or something even worse? Why did that even happen? And her father made her angry. She had always known he resented her for not being what he wanted. He was like so many other Igbo fathers. Sons, sons, sons, even when you had two. And if not a son, then a beautiful, polite, docile daughter. “No,” she said, just wanting to escape to her room.
“I’ll tell your mother that you’re home,” he said, making to leave. He turned back to Sunny. “We love you more than life itself.” He paused, his own words seeming to take his breath away. Then his face became hard and angry as she’d known it most of her life when he looked at her, and he continued. “But you worry her like that again and I will disown you from this family and throw you out of this house.”
Later on, her mother didn’t come running to the kitchen or her room. But Sunny could hear her sobbing with relief in their bedroom. She heard Ugonna go to their room. Then he came to Sunny’s room, peeked in, and without a word returned to his room. Sunny lay awake listening to her mother’s sobbing and her father’s soft consoling murmurs. She wished she could go to her parents’ room as she used to when she was younger, before she became part of something that was entirely separate from her family.
She closed her eyes, tears streaming from the sides onto her pillow. Those days were over.